Celebrezze, Anthony J., Jr., 1941-2003

Anthony Joseph Celebrezze (1910-1998) had a long career in law and government, serving as an Ohio state senator; Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio; Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare; and a federal judge.

The ninth of thirteen children, Anthony J. Celebrezze was born in Anzi, Italy, on September 4, 1910. His parents, both naturalized citizens of the United States, were visiting their native land hoping to find better employment when he was born. Anthony's father returned to the United States just before he was born, and two years later, he and his mother joined the rest of the family in Cleveland, Ohio. Meanwhile, his father had found work with the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad as a track laborer, and they lived in the East 28th Street-Woodland Avenue area of Cleveland. At age six, Anthony joined his older brothers selling newspapers in front of the Caxton Building in downtown Cleveland. In 1929 he graduated from Central High School, playing football there in his senior year. He attended John Carroll University for one year, and then transferred to Ohio Northern University. Encouraged by his brother Frank, he enrolled in law school at Ohio Northern, meeting his expenses by working for the New York Central Railroad. After receiving his law degree in 1936, he acquired his first legal experience working for the Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, and three years later opened his own law office. He practiced his profession for the next thirteen years, with time off for Navy service during World War II. In 1938, Celebrezze married his high school sweetheart, Anne Marco, and they had three children, Anthony Junior, Jean, and Susan.

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